I’d have to agree with Sharon & Carr.
The key word is “reasonable” and there
does come a point when nothing further can be done. Now a management decision.
Regards
Helun Ford RGN RSCPHN(OH)
Occupational Health Specialist
Capita Health Solutions
Tel / Fax: 02920
326983
From:
[log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Carr Barnes
Sent: 27 October 2011 13:24
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [OCC-HEALTH]
anxiety/depression induced by music - please help
I agree
with
In these
sorts of situations it comes down to what management are willing to do. It is
looking like tolerance to change is reduced and any change outside his control
therefore could trigger perceived stress.
I would
suggest his aggressive outburst not be medicalised though and be managed
separately...bad behaviour is bad behaviour. The Shaw Trust have a great
website for managers called Tacklingmentalhealth which advises on how to handle
conversations, including difficult ones, and decide how much support they
can give. It's become a standard link in my reports over the last year.
Regards
Carr
On Oct 27, 2011 11:33 a.m., "Simon Chilton" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Hi Liz,
Interesting issue. If you want to discuss this, I would be happy to have a chat
over the phone. You can reach me on 07853320131. I'm away on holiday until
Saturday, after that is fine.
Regards
Simon Chilton
Occupational Mental Health Advisor
Sent from my BlackBerry smartphone from Virgin Media
-----Original Message-----
From: Liz brown <[log in to unmask]>
Sender: [log in to unmask]
Date: Thu, 27 Oct 2011 10:53:38
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To: Occupational Health mailing list <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: [OCC-HEALTH] anxiety/depression induced by music - please help
Dear List,
Please can you advise me on the following,
I have been looking after an employee for the past few months who has been
suffering with anxiety and depression due to radio music being played
throughout the factory on a Tannoy system. The employee has quite an
extensive history of clinical depression.
This employee has never liked particularly loud environments but perceives
certain music (he calls it the “boom boom” music, pop, dance and R&B) as
repetitive and particular radio stations replay the same music frequently
throughout the day. His anxiety did escalate so that any repetitive noise
including people speaking would set off his anxiety.
Over the past few months I have worked with this employee with advice from his
GP / counsellor and have tried different ways to support him. The company
has re-performed the noise survey for his working areas – which are within
expectable limits and have undergone an employee survey on the radio
service/Tannoy system. Following the employee survey a list of the most
popular stations was derived and rotated on a daily basis, the employee
responded well to this as his ‘worse’ station was not included on the rotated
list. The employee also responded well to initially desensitising
techniques and now has specialised hearing protection (they block out the low
tones of the “boom boom” music) which he can wear when needed.
All was going well until the company realised that they cannot get all the
requested stations and so are using the next most popular station from the
survey which is this employee’s ‘nemesis station’. The employee has not
responded well to this information and has been verbally aggressive to
managers. I have been asked by HR to re-assess this employee and I really
would appreciate some advice on what to do as the company are now starting to
feel that they have “done enough”and will not turn off the radio as the
majority of employees like it.
Thanks Liz.
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